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Les diagrammes suivants illuatrant la m«thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 456 MOOCOfY RiSOlUTiON TBT CHA«T (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) ^ APPLIED INA^GE Inc ^K 1653 East Main Street S'S Rochester, Neo York 14609 USA '-aa (716) 482 -OMO - Phone ^S (716) 288 - 5989 - FoK TH€^DONS^OF TH€'OLD*PU€BLO P€RCrV5\L- J COON€Y ] f =, 2^- (cS- a d^t^t^i^ / -e^i,^C^^Ld^^t^ /V^ '^S, % iJ>^ I T .fi^ u /t, 3 /// t^^ / / /• -•-( U? T-'^ ^^ ^ ^ ^.- ^^* Cefyritkt. 1914 By IUmb. MoNaut * Comvaht 001! .'is 7-,;) THE PREFACE an idle iSan J^to 5,^^™ thislSe ma? ^^, Be tlwt as^rm^' history." ^^*' *>"* the mar- hness of hi^ - ®.^®^™ ^rom the La«« !- centunes. I'-i ^'^''««'"'^«yi.l9l4 ,ff»'l 1 i 1 in'f' 1 f I^P i ■4 Thb Author ««AFTt« I. II. iil. IV. V. VI. vir. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII XIX, XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. THE CONTENTS The Pack at thb Window LlHUTENANT JoHN Ca.Roll A C«Y IN THK Dark 2l ^^ - Lko xhk Sxkakoh. England's Agent Marshall's Warning . A Soldier's Wooing "CojiotkAmo. Amame- TheSonsofAncientSpain' The Clank ok Chains The Couriers OF THE Night WAR . "Sons of the Land. Awake." The Black Matador . The Captain's Defiance . The Race for the Hh-ltop ' The Midnight Sortie The Paith OF Servolo Palera ' " ' The Snarl OF the Wolf An Unknown Pribnd " ' ' ' The Cannon of THE Senora' ' ' ' The Battle IN THE Dark * • « . 7 rAca • 9 • 31 • 30 • 42 • 56 • 71 . 8i • 92 • 97 105 112 "7 124 '33 148 159 . 168 • 176 194 205 213 227 «35 249 ' THE CONTENTS 3^V. Vakuha St» zm '**" XXVII. Th. T.«o. o, th. Sca^„ ^" ™^«^— -jci^z:: — ^ XXIX.ArT«...p,.on.BA.Toto'. ** XXX. Tw Last Stand of tub Cabal,"..! ' ' ' ^" XXXI. "Shb Shall P..v ^^'^^^ • • • 323 HB bHALL PbaY FOB YOUB DbaTH" . . -., XXXII. By THB Giant Oab . . '341 XXXIII. AT THB DBva's RocB ^** XXXIV. Ah Hohobablb Pbacb ^^' XXXV. AT Cahubnga Pass ^"^ XXXVI. THB PasSIHO OK THB SHADOW '^^ EwtOGUB ... *^° 431 I pp^' J 1 • * I^ 1 DON JOSE ANTONIO ARILLO f c- THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO CHAPTER I (^LEARER and dearer came th. • Y note., the mttle^Jc^L*^* "°«^« bugle nof welcome marked ttT^ • *** '^stance ^«>t.butitS^^iJ°r'°"- The city ,^ awed quietude, a. tf tte .T^!"^ "^^ *^ •» longed it, middky ^^t/J^ f"'"" '"^ P™- ft was the twelftt^J'J^'/^'^ W "» among the Z^ ^^'^ ""^e mo« « f<. their cc^-itrr So/*: le THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO had remained in the pueblo and vntt now gathered at caiement and window, awaiting with curiosity the coming of the Americans. With the older men, though occaiionaHy u. Jit be heard a word of regret at the pass ng of Mexican soverdp ty, there was generally a calm accept- ance of . conqtiest long recognized as inevitable, but among Jm younger generation, hotter headed and less philosophical, was apparent a silent sullenness that boded ill for the future peace of the sleepy, sun-parched city. The house of Arillo haughtily gave no sign. Thotigh it was a day pregnant with portents of the future for Don Jos^ Antonio Arillo, there was no anxiety in his calm face as he idly scanned the coltmms of a tattered and much bethumbed Modcan newspaper. ' Madre de Dios," murmured Sefiora Arillo, **i» it so, that they are really I ere — at last — the Americans? What shall we do, Jos6 Antonii ;" "Calm thyself, mother. There is naught to feai," he replied, with the ready optimism of his race. "But the Commandant Castro and his sol- diers — there will be shooting in the streets?" Sefior Arillo's quiet, indulgent smile was tuged with a trace of amusement. "No; there will be no shooting. The told Commandant Castro and the brave Governor "a MCE AT THE WINDOW Pico, alike *~ «,^ " A» ho lolled in the eMv^hi? '^ " "» "Poke. velvet knee breeches, with^;. ^''' '''«* «hoe. brightly budSd te ^^ '*°*°«» "I ™n«« •««» with the world mdW, "*° "^^ » at At her husband? m^ ""fe >»» been kind. ^j^.* bent o,« httSktr*^ f°Je- Then her «»« JTT 7 ""^ * ««fty "here a roughly dad Lin ."' ">« I»tio. g^j « m a plot of freshly broken 'Santa Maria " l ^«« ker thoihte - -n:'^ '"^f "o» to "orld is coming to' Tht ^"^ ''°* ""»' the ^-o,andthfpeop,eXr„i^-i:^ 13 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO not for the better. I do remember well, how, when a little girl, I saw my brothers — fota* of them — march away to fight the Spaniards, and but two came back. And now, por Dios! our commandant and our governor flee, and strike not one blow for the land. Ah," she repeated, "the times are not what they were — nor the people." "They must not be blamed, mother. There was neither money, arms, nor clothing for the soldiers. Let us be charitable. It was not that Governor Pico was afraid; he fled that the name of Pico might not be disgraced by sur- render." The door was flung wide open. "The Americans — they are here?" The girl's face was bright with excitement, and her whole body seemed aquiver with a fear Si exhilarating that the very entertaining of it was an enjoyabh sensation. Black were her eyes— black as the long lashes that fringed their velvet depths, black as the silky sheen of her raven tresses. The cherry tint of her curving lips, the crimson glow in her olive cheeks, but echoed back the vivid red of the single rose in her hair. It was for such as she that Spain became the garden of chivalry. The land she had never seen had given her a heritage of beauty, of the type THE FACE AT THE WINDOW „ which generations befniv> i,.j • . knights Md jovousT^.h'^ "'"'"'' ''""°'^ painters, singera!^ tr^*^*^- Soul-thriUed ^e in tlleir S's^de^'"? J»d seen such as duction on canvas ta ve^^l? """^ °^ "P"*- . reserve of the woodS.7^Jr :. °"^ ""y ""e vacity, held in ^^Zj^^' fl°°<3-tiding vi- tions; witch^^'^.'^^fV'"'"'''' °^ g™*™" ove^weHnglc^L^o^r^-Wued hy the 'fie Don rose and Idssprf r™ » head, lingerini. =. 1 ^^° °n the fore- caressingiri? L^^' to touch her C^ ^^ectio^fe XZ S gr t/T r *» ^ thmg of sadness markedT^^ * ^^'^^^^ ^'"e- it had ^e chasteni^f^i^/o^T-:- """«'' ofy"th"'Tir:;;^S''-*thrSuheranc« boson, heaved*'^^^t.:S'hrr- «''' « act. the window. The bL-f ^ *"™^ ^''ay fre„ but he was sil«t ^ZV """ """"^'fi^. fluttered upward. ^™^ °^ the stars Wild ringing cheers from the Am • plaza, repeated again and '"^'^^^cans in the band struck up a d^„^ ^f™' ^up near ^^ly uiterested was she tto E,^- 4, i6 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO when she turned it was to look suddenly and directly into the eyes of an American officer who, during the maneuvering, had quietly stopped his horse close to the veranda. Erect, handsome, and well groomed, there was in his fresh young face, buoyant with the ease of perfect physical health, an expression of pleas- ing affability, somewhat in contrast with the air of cool self-reliance and quiet determination suggested by the deeply cleft chin, set strongly imder his heavy blond mustache. Perplexed with deep thought, he was almost frowning under his visored cap when his gaze uprose to meet that of the girl. At once his deep blue eyes beamed with an artist's pleasure at the sight of sudden and imexpected beauty, and yet he was not guilty of even the semblance of a smile. Instinctively his hand touched his hat in respectful salute, and deferentially he reined his horse away. The startled girl closed the shutter with a snap that seemed almost vicious in its haste. He stared at the closed window for a moment, and then passed on reluctantly towaid the Plaza Church. "May the good God grant that they do not take our house for their headquarters," muttered Don Jos6 Antonio. Lieutenant Jack Carroll said to himself, "By Gad!" wm THE FACE AT THE WINDOW ., Back to the open plaza floctert .h. from the hfll camrthe InT;.^ ^ ** P*°P'«: brown faces ^4« „„ "^^ *"? P^"'- "^ excited groups th^uZeTt J?^*^.'^ " watched the saflo!; 'X^'°^^ °^« »d ST^f rP"'"'°-« for the Jer^Tm^S^jZ its busia^frth^l f^ew fl ° """' '"~"' the city of Our Lad^ „f ,J^^ ^ "^^^d °ver th^ co^fieldsTo^WH ""'.^S^' "-ere were in the orchards ZT'i^^ri^ "P* P^^«^ ready for the piddng ^^ "^ ^<»t wf^tts'^^l^^^-^^^s faded to the rugged range-toT^^^'^'^;™'^"- ^^^ind of gold, sUd ^tfyon'^Z^V^l"^ "^ radiance of oran J In,, ^ °^'^ * ''""ting the arched bC S^T^' ^^8 "P to sUver-showered^^e ^^i^'^T^' H" open Plaea, the blanlcet^Z^tf^^ T ""' men, the dark grouo of tJ^ u * ^'^P'"^ ■^tlessly. and tte fi^ '?'^ ^'^ *«ffling moved silently back^ tJ^ T""' ^^ "^^^ fnmt of the churd, th^.T^'. ^^ *">« dark of wheels. From the St "^ " *^sle ^ caught the ^^pS'.r^'oidT:-^^ = ' ^ ■ 1 f 11 r'^--'WW i8 THE DONS OF THE OLD PuEBLO for a moment, then let it fall limply to the staff. The occupation of Los Angeles was complete. Lieutenant Carroll turned away for a stroll in the quiet night. His responsive heart warmed at the memory of the incident before Arillo's window, for aside from the romance of it his artist's mind was thrilled with the vision of the girl's entrancing beauty. "Wouldst know thy future, sefior? Wouldst know thy future?" A blind and withered Indian woman sat on a doorstep, garbed in rags and surrounded by sundry evidences of squalor. The lieutenant ropped a bit of silver into her palm, — the first, perhaps, she had possessed in many a day. "God took my eyes, but to me the Holy Mother makes the future clear," she explained in guttural Spanish, with exclamations of the most profuse gratitude. "Good stranger," she said, as she held his hand, "alas that one so generous should suffer so. Thy heart shall be crushed as by a stone, and blood shall smear thy path. The great hearts whom thou reverest shall be humbled; she who loves thee shall pray for thy death. Sad, sad, and long is the way, and filled with woe." "It is fortimate that at this particular time no THE PACE AT THE WINDOW „ one loves me," soliloquized Carmll ^.u amused smile. '^'""^ <-arroU, w,th an "Thy heart shall be >-m<,h~i i. The sunlight wfflmm! TT f ^^ » «»<»«• the night of Zl^V^^. 1° •* fo"""^ by danldng cSinTT^/T,t*^P *^ '™* in -aainslhS^J^lff" »^* strife, and aKtany. "P****^- as though chanting asuperstittauscStic^Z^^ T^' *°"*«1 »_the man's sU «»ewhere deep down orili" *^'' "*"*• S"** woman, ceasel" h« Stay, and hear aU— stay— " at the AmScf -s „r i""°"' '~™' ^^'i^'tly ^mencan s apparent ereduHty Of Srst»S "°' '"V°°'' ^ «-« "^^tails blue eyes^Sr^^rStuU^^r""^' ■--ive mould of his f^ts^^Z.^^^^^ ■fit' i ao THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO of blond hair, in strange contrast with the coppery glow of his cheek. Irritated by the unspoken insolence of the man's scrutiny, Carroll was about to speak when the listener, the ^gravating sneer still on his heavy mouth, shrugged his shoulders indif- ferently and strode away. That night, wearied by the long march of the day, the lieutenant dropped quickly to sleep, but it was a sleep of strange, distorted dreams, in which two faces came and went in tumultuous confusion, — the gladdening memory of the girl at the casement and the lowering visage of the unknown eavesdropper. Ever through the fleet- ing mirage of his visions floated the fancied croonings of the Indian woman. "Thy heart shall be crushed as by a stone. Friendship shall walk in chains. Sad and long is the way, and filled with woe." CHAPTER II "BUTENANT JOHN CARKOLL "Oh the time I 've ipent in wrWn. In ovwg and puffii° ''°°"«' Hil«hir«'"^«wSmen'.eye. Has been n,y heart's undSi?^ 'iltedtohinselfmlfeCofa'^ headquarter. «««d of his own voioTfa ,^1* ^ V"" 'he "ubbom knot oTa b^dle nf ""f "* ««" * down, and ^umed mS;;f I»^»t. laid it " m,«, jloomy Kienc sough, „, I scorned the !„;, she t'j;';^. He fold^ ^ '^'' •>»""«*• «- -oman^fLH-" a^d'SL^e:„^5^'««^- '"^ '' » " d^wer. But Jack Carton's undoing had not ^ a=nous affair, and there Jl % "^^ * ''e>7 -.sdom than Vouth/^ToCt Cd °' "^"•" face-a face that mdiated w4,^^^' ''°""« happiness. ^'h, heartiness, and Ocropied with the routine worJr nf .v he had not noticed the apptoachTa l^tC;; |p:5 aa THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO garbed lan who hcic! entered the stockade. The newcomer was attired in the height of Mexican fashion, — bell-mouthed trousers of black broad- cloth, open on the side and laced to thft knee, short rounded jacket of blue velvet bright with gold braid, a flowing crimson sash, and vide curved-brimmed sombrero heavy with silver fila- gree. Over his shoulder hung gracefully the long folds of a dark blue scrape. The Califomian glanced inquiringly at Commo- dore Stockton, who had just stepped out on the veranda. Then his grave face returned Carroll's genial smile. "Have I the hon,r of addressing the American commander?" he asked in Spanish, with a formal bow. The commodore, a large-faced man with graying tuft^ of hair in front of his ears and a high, arched nose, eyed the stranger's rich raiment with an insolent stare. "What is this gorgeous individual sajdng, lieu- tenant?" he inquired, turning to Carroll. The young officer rose, and returned the Cali- fomian's bow. "Whom have I the pleasure of addressing?" he asked in fluent Spanish. "Don Jos6 Antonio Arillo, formerly alcalde, of the pueblo." "Oh, explain that to him," broke in the com- modore, waving his hands toward the papers on UEUTENANT JOHN CARROLL „ the table, "and tell hi^ ♦ hi. friend. to.mo,^w„d«lT' '™™><' "^ •Wot. be seated," ^itT^r "f.-'*^<» "•• P«-Wo a« expect toln'^Tr',,""" °' ">« yen. " "80. I shaU read it for hile?r«r^*»;j^t^;'^^3ees, and binds against the miKtai^^"' ''^<»-' »?' t° «rve nor to give aid «Z^ °' .** "'"««d States, "It « our intentiW-T "'.^^ni*' a" those who Wra;,yty^'»"«'. ":'<' •»- e-Mnected with dvil ^V^^ "' ""^ time been late govenm,«t rf oZ^ ^"^^ •»<•<* the In return we have tStZTtn"'^ *"' P"™'"- y»uf pmperties and -ZL I ,?T^ 5"^ that We only ask that the ta^ 1^ "^ ''^P^ted- ^hall n^ain the «Se r»^/''^«'J- All laws the e^geneies of nuK^^' wTs°^,^ '" pleased to have you ^..f • ^* """'"''J >» r^er'»--^^-r^rr"^ ^h^s^^^Xerjt?-:;-^--". L f^.\ \4^'?i^a' Wiits-.-^iSJi 14 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO meaningless disturbances of the last few years. I do not exaggerate, seflor, when I state that among the genu di rason your coming is not unwelc(Mne, and I — " Stockton interrupted his flow of sonorous Gistilian. "What is he saying, lieutenant? My Spanish is rusty." "He says the Spanish people are glad we are here." "Humph," remarked the commodore. "I'll believe that when we recover those cannon Castro made away with." Arillo turned his great dark eyes half scornfully on Stockton; then, frowning a little, he bade Carroll a courteous farewell, and walked slowly out the stockade gate. The lieutenant leaned back in his chair and gazed dreamily at the sunlit square of the stockade. Incidents of the past few days, though seemingly monotonous, had been eventful to him at least. In the still air of the City of the Angels he seemed to feel the presence of an overwhelming fate. But yesterday he had attended mass at the Plaza Church, and an event which under ordinary drctmistances would have seemed trivial had been the occasion of setting his whole being a-tingle with romantic expectancy. His erect figiu-e, dad in its uniform of blue, was the object of "EUTENANT JOHN CARROLL „ 1«. church h.l^,!^«°"«'''»' ot th. «.,: mind veiy bu.y^'^ifrl "" '*^"- »^ 'ong-Sono year. ^L '^"^ "»""*« of VO' clear to Wm«T.^u ?^ '''°«' «"<• remembered eirf,H! ""f? "'«*• the well- the same in e^^^ T^ °' »" ch"che», boyhood, and tt^^*^: ^„f^ff days of his a pair of wondrous bll:^ eye,^ ^f* »'° '"""g. appealine ou«n~,- '^ ^* open, admiring, tha sA w« ! •' "*" ""' ^»^ a^ost tips. Then ^tiratJTlitT'"^ '° "^ «»«" of infinite grace the T^ I movement, full Cosor a«.-X; h^d^itr ttTtt'T"'.'* nioving crowd. "^ ^^® slowly thi^t^e'trSler"' T"^ '"""'^ *»"ard girl's r.jZ^'V^^ "^for* him again the haironhertempl^^dL^'' "^^ "^ '"'^S ^ "ashes as h^'gti^trf:^:f°-„^ g m tfte slight upward tilt of the brows. .1 26 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO Surely, it was a gleam of recognition? Where had those eyes looked into his before, not with longing, inquiring gaze, but with startled dismay? Then with a sudden illimiinating flash came the memory of the face that had vanished from the window the day the troops arrived in the pueblo. "You're lookin* mighty solemn, lieutenant." Carroll looked up to meet the quizzical eyes of a tall frontiersman in buckskin coat, who was doing sentry duty at the stockade gate. "Hello, Jim Marshall," he said, cordially, "what do you know to-day?" Between the warm-hearted yoimg lieutenant and the grizzled trapper had spnmg up a warm and sudden liking. Alone in one another's com- pany, their conversation was marked by a famil- iarity which ignored the formalities usual between an officer and an enlisted man. "Wa-all," drawled Jim, after a hurried glance about him, "this war ain't run quite to suit me. The weather's a trifle warm, rations ain't exactly a Paris menoo, our boys is drinkin* too much wine, the fleas is workin' overtime, the commodore ain't been givin' me his entire cooperation. Still, I call this pueblo a fair to middlin' place. Now these high-class greasers has pretty good stuff in them." Carroll suppressed a chuckle. "Yes, siree. Thar's that old sport, Seiior LIEUTENANT JOHN CARROLL „ Afiilo, that was in here ", - --. mth the saver dewdad Tu-"^°°°' ""« 8™* *«•» all right, ^y -a? r' "°''S- ^'^ b*' ^"^ didn't have it a. "" . T ^«^8ton ft^tty sweU people. that'^S' ""Z^ ^f^^- « the rest of thm>- JT^ , ^v«r met any «»PhaticaUytoguii Marshall's grin w^ *veu, lieutenant Ipf t«« * n That -ere family o'w^t t"e f^ T ^"^"^S- beauty of this 4,p Tht M-"-"!°"'^d-doIlar young bucks aroun*^ h^e j^'^'^^^i^ *e aU ready to throw tbJZsZdTJ' J""^'"' the groond for her to wS ^n J ^^^ °° see_ nary one of them. ""* ** "1°»'' Circas^"tL„tJ^^,«^^ '^ « Pnmny ^ona and a according to the custom ^f i° °°*- "^o" ^. flowers is bom to ht^ J'"' """'-7 thes^ There ain't no goL-to'Sy'Slt' ^ '' ^''^■ «P an' spoonin- after O^lt^f^,^"'- an'sittin' ■ike bacic in the ft^es r ^"^^ *° '^• aUey-wuz doL'l^l ^i'™^ °™^ thar in the captain that day beZd 2^"^ "°^^ ^°' the out of an old ad^at tZ^,""^' * '^ ■n particular, when T T i. ^'°°S *« no one 'hat's the h^S^J, !r f'' ""^ *^ ^^-^dy- 'he day we b^'^^^^^^j '"^^ ^er hoss Lu, »^<- an Old grimly H.;^e:rir^°r; >:< <me he was. but, oi.t Str"."**" "^"l- --tmanhew.,:,-trht'Sr:?^ 32 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO grieving eyes never answered the warm glances of the many beautiful sefioritas who looked with kindness upon him. "Never in the bull ring was hand so sure or eye so true as his, and they said of him — the ladies that watched him with kindness in their eyes — that his somber garb was but the outward sign of his broken heart. Many bulls he killed, always with that one, swift, stire stroke, but when he looked up at the wild huzzas and the flowers that rained down upon him, there was no pride or joy in his pale face. He saw the coming of his fate, it is believed, for on the day that he died he made confession of all his life to Father Linares. How it happened it is hard to tell. Some say that he stood as one in a dream; others, that his hand was not sure, and that he missed his stroke, for the bull caught him on his horns and tossed him high in the air, while the men groaned and the women covered their faces with their hands. Then the big beast trampled his black figure into the sand, and when they picked him up, his face was gone — no sign of featiu-es was there left! "Ah, how my mother would shudder when she told the tale! Buried he was in the Campo Santo to the north, but he does not sleep wdl, for many a time he has been seen, but always, always, is his face covered with the comer of his A CRY IN THE DARK black cloak, as if he wiBed t),.f see it." "™*° ™t no man should face covered ^tt^l i?"'"^?«' J"', and his never could le be bZJf °' "= ''o-k- But the very memory oliT^t 1 "T^ "^ '»• for And often W^I h«». and from Tb^-* was ^o^^«"^^»y own door." cloudless, the blnr^^h l "^ '"^ and With quivering sul X T''"^'* scintillating fbadowy bre.^S'tf th^ol^'^ '*°"«' " "^ h.bUydownthestep:lrr^-S„,J^P;n« J imiM«toi :-f\»' 34 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO entrance of the plaza, and then, with a wildly beating heart, she raced toward the veranda of her own home, dimly seen in the darkness. Out of the shadows lurched a shambling figure; a hand caught her shoulder, and a rough voice gurgled in her ear in badly accented Spanish: "Don't hurry so, little one." She screamed in terror, and throwing oS the rebozo, which the man held firmly in his grasp, she tried to dart away, but it was caught in the fastening of the brooch at her neck. The man laughed gleefully as, holding it in one hand, he stepped toward her. Close at hand and out of the darkness came a tall man. Loreto saw dimly the forward thrust of his shoulders, the stiffening of his neck and head, and heard the vicious smack of knuckles meeting flesh and bone. The ruffian tottered to the ground; then he scrambled to his feet and, with a roar like a bellowing bull, threw himself on the newcomer, belching brutal oaths. Like two pistol shots John Carroll's two fists landed full and fair on his face and jaw. With a shudder of pain, the man sank again to the ground, this time motionless. For a moment the girl clung to Carroll's arm, sobbing hysterically; then, as she glanced upward through the tears glistening on her cheeks, the light of recognition came into her eyes, though A CRY IN THE DARK th^ d^taes, hid the r^ m^,'"~, ^^^ ^jOh-h-hl" Therewasx^efandgladnessinher "Do not fear, sefiorita- he wJti „• Latin races yields oX to tL ""r^ °^ ^^^ her heart. In lat mn^ ! u^ "^^^ ^^ ^on Arillo was his °°''''* ^« ^^^ Loreto his encircling im for^^tf o^^ ^"^^ ^^ aU^^the trach^i:::^/^^^^^^^ with No, sefiorita." He I M h^^ P^opie. and she became mo:::^^^" -^ ""^ll^y' bW. and can hardly stand " "" '^■ hef^eSlTow'^S^^^ T^ *^'"^«' "-" <3mverof av^^IeTattl^Jr^' T «>« He thre,:. the door ok^ al? ^ *"*"**• Seflora AriUo aooelL^- T ' ^ ^* *d so, hand. ATtte SifV'*?^ "^""^ » he; olose to the blue "^I'^f ^"t*"- ^-^^ «=«amed in horror h,^ \^ Amencan, she norror, bnngmg Don Jos4 Antonio 36 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO rujjhing into the nxmi, his usuaUy placid face full of alann. "Take your hands off my child," Seftora AriUo cned. But Loreto threw herself on her mother's breast, sobbing— sobs that broke into half- hystencal laughter. "Mother, mother, speak not so to him. He •'aved me from a man, an awful man, who tore my rebozo off in the darkness," and she hid her flushed face on her mother's arm. Dcm Jos6 Antonio was the first, to grasp the situation^ In Ce. , n he recognized the courteous young officer ox ....^ headquarters, and his face lighted with pleasure. Grasping the soldier's hand with both of his, he pressed it wannly, and said m a voice full of feeling: "I can find no words, believe me, sefior, to express our thanks and gratitude for your gallant conduct. You are indeed welcome to our home now ^d always. It is aU yours, sefior. Seflora Kmz de Anllo, my wife, Lieutenant CarroU " The seftora ga/e him her hand, and her words echoed her husband's warm thanks and courteous greetmg. "Ah, sefiora," said the American, as he bowed over her hand, "I see plainly now why your daughter IS so beautiful. She is so by the divine nght of inhentance." A CRY IN rtrs DARK For the day, whaT&fl^ 7^*^ '""' P'«»«"«. Ruiz. wa. the "f^^J^"- ">!" Seflorita twenty year, ag^Tlt^ t ^ '^""°- *''°"«'> >» to any womm oft ''"' " ^^ "^d t™ly. in the S 1-H T;T '"™'°'^- And •^auty that had Mt a^,^ t ""'='' »' the the «tays of the p^j °^* ""« ^eart, of men in Caii^»%^'2°? 5:',V^'n<»t -^ a you are an Ame„"c^ - ^^ '" "' '» ^^Ueve that-I vm not say ttat f^^u"*"- '^°' "°t • »"e AmericaL^ • 'Xm r *^' """ a^^mied." °°^ ^ am truly "True, sefior," said Ar,ii« are both good ^d ^^ ^""^y- "There devil has h^ J^ "^ ^'"""^ ^ nations. The Jr „ ^^ o^ everywhere." ® t^rroU glanced at his watch «r,^ ••inTittr::^-'«-v-tSd^rctl:t^: «^t appeared withlriST^ ^"^^ ""> ^ '.e«idrhe'::*^r^:?ir"^>''' *"» gxass, and may we have I I:- 38 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO the very great pleasure of seeing you often in our home." "The pleasure will, for me, indeed be great, Sefior Arillo," repUed CarroU seriously, and he looked into the eyes of the girl, whose answering gaze -net his without evasion. He rose to go, and as he took Loreto's hand in his he raised it boldly to his lips. Childishly she hid her face against her mother's arm. He met the sefiora's look of displeasure with one of reso- lute, good-natured defiance. In the custom of the land and of the time, he was now an avowed suitor for the hand of Loreto Arillo. "Truly a fine young man, that," observed Don Jos6 Antonio as he lighted a long black cigar and resumed his seat at the table. "How well he speaks Castilian,— with just the sUghtest trace of accent." Sefiora Arillo was in a brown study. All too plainV she had read the telltale look in her daugh- ter's lace, and the proud but kindly defiance and glad confidence in the blue eyes of Carroll. Her position, her power as a mother, had been ignored. Her irritation grew ; her face became firm and hard. "It is sad to think such a fine young man is a heretic," she said, purposely mimicking her hus- band's words. "Ah! but mother, he is not," protested Loreto, her face flushed with eager gladness. A CRY IN THE DARK ^^Z^Z^^U^T: '^'W^. What h " "Nothing. Ztl^L i.^d'iS^r"' H^'y- I»rt of the questiOT llT ^ "^ ""• «"' sudden mischirf "" '^^ "^ «t with "I have n^ersnTkt ^""^.T"*""" '*'°«''" to-night. Oh moZ, .. ^'""" '^^U before •p- t- ■ t™'^' "hat a manhp i.i u Bmg. bing,' and he feU like » rf.!^ . "°''' over." she prattled menify " ^ "*• ^' ^<^ Can^U befoj^l^afattnce^ "'^ ^«- At mass, mother." Andtho.ha!?l^ttt:hhf*^ ^^' ^---an Arnerican and a Sretfe "* ^^" '^^'^ "Ah. mothefmither? tlT'^^'^-^''- an the daughte; of Eve aslTorf" T^""^ °^ even as thine eyes stmv^ *' ''"""'' '^'^ little thou cared L thl^^^ "^'' « «»«' ^d at whom thT^^c^'^f""^*- °^ "<" he "Ti,*.^ ^^ancea was a heretic or no " There were no heretics in CaliforSaTn those 40 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO days. The times are changed, and not for the better." "He is not a heretic," persisted Loreto, her face f uU of mischief, but her head held low as she idly twisted a silken ribbon in her white fingers. "But how knowest thou? Speak; has he told ineer "I told thee that I have never exchanged words with him before to-night," she said, with exas- perating slowness. "Loreto," snapped her mother, "thou wouldst try the patience of a s^t. TeU me how thou knowest, or thou shalt be sent to bed." "When a man bends his head at the ringing of the mass beU, even as we do, he can be no heretic," she repUed, her triumphant gaze searching her mother's face. "Ah, is it so?" said Don Jos6 Antonio with mterest. It was plain that the news was not unwelcome to him. "I do not doubt it, and I do not marvel now that I liked him from the first. ^ But Sefiora Arillo was stubbornly incredulous. Never, never, have I known of an American who was a CathoUc. Frenchmen, yes; Germans, Irish- men, even Enghshmen have I heard of who were of the true faith— but Americans, never. I do not beheve it. No, he is a sharp young man and polite,— that I can see,— so in church he does A CRY IN THE DARK iust as the others do "r • and admirable " ^ graceful of him, home in the church " ^ ^® ^^ at land or Ma. and ^ttoh,^t ,**" "*"«• **» on melodies, of 43^^'°"i"!'* ^P»K «c«t CHAPTER IV THE SON OF LEO THE STIUNGER ame moment everv m^^' "^ ^t the «tu^ at the Z7,:^J' ^l P-«-Uy gious regularity Ev»r„ v ^'^ *^°*' '"^ reM- Bom and .afaed in^l m ''' ^"^ '° "° °*er stem old "itch bu^g":^"L"';f°f '°"°' °^ ancient nam>wness bu" nonttf tt ^. ^ *^ of ready adaptability th^t hi. T ^^ '^'^'^ S««. in aU liids and in^ri .^ ^" ""^ ^™g the Puritan ^d Mg^'" l"'^ • °' '^"^ ~"^ °^ Poi^ul dignity of t& ,1°.?" ^, ^«>t. ^as but the sultiness rf^ **"'' * ''<«'* their «,Iorful gT^^ Ity S":" '^^ "''' the average man of the^^^it '^'"*''- ^^ he despised and iZsX^"' T^f' ;^. and to him there w^ butTttle H**-'^^'" between the Dons ;„ ,fc« ""' "ttle distinction '«eed their d«^t fr^ T^^"' ''^'' P--»"dIy the sunburnt plains ^" ''^*'^ fro» Much to his g,.tification. two of the guns 42 ^^^^^"^ '°^ O^ ^EO THE STRANGER ,3 Z^. "'^TSt^?.^ '"^«' flight wel' ■" hfng at their ra^^^JT^'o- "^o had been ™e by one and withoMa^^ ch.-T"^' "'"""l Pf «"es not to bear ani^^ i^"»» gave their f 'a««- In charge ^e^.*«*^ the United «"« bringing hii inVot^^f,'^*^ P^H men of the pueblo, was n. . * *" ""^ leading, fonn«.ly of t.fe M^^^?^'J»haCam,lf fnative dignity of Te J^T ^*"'«™ the brusqueness otcZtZ J^'^^^'i ^ S^ '^"""alityandhis^^^"';- Cam.ll's ta^ dunng n^y yea^"^llCastiaan, acquired ^ways as a buffer, tho^h^r*." ,^"'"'' =tood ta». with his cust^mar^L *" ^*- the cap. unaware. "^ obtuseness. was utter^ Gillie's first offi * i P«.cIamation dZ^di^^ T *« ^"^ of a f^ and ammunition^ t^. /"^'^«' °f all fes. Gatherings otL^,^-^^'^ authori- vate, were forbMd^ ^^LT*^ ^"^'^ »' Pri- had been given. nTZl^'f '"^ ^t to keep within doors aft^.^'' ""-^ '^ed nation ended withl^^^^^f .'•.»<> the procla- any ' conduct prej„di« Pns- theguanJhouse of the posT^ ^ sentences in "hen the last of tho r » Lieutenant CaroU sat ^Z^-,"** *'=P°«d of, at the oppos.te ZlZa^^^f^'' ""^ng heavy mustache. Forl;'^^ *! ^""^ °f his »nously considering th^^vf ?',•'" ^ >««■» suggesting to Capta^ oLir^^fy °^ >>oldIy fymg his stringentTru^»,- '''^,'"«J°'n of modi- of the pueblo. But f^!!'°°" ^ ">« governing of the New Engti^et T!,*^ *"" ^'-^^ hearted Celtic t^^^f f. ^""'s warn,, ^ght sympathy b^^ ^ "^ °°t only Such action, m^reo^^l ZJT^^''?'' '^'^■ flagrant breach of nS^JTit^*'" '^ * »ost t^hi was a man who^^/"""*"*- The cap. advice, and aU of d:^u?±r,r',°^ '^S f« ««gestions had not^i ^T f"^'^'' ^^^ed scousness. Lieutenant loZ'^!'^ °" '^ «>»- ^es looked long and stea^^.^th^rT" ^^ 4 ^ ^'^ *^e captain, but 46 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO he said nothing. He was a strangely silent man. During his two weeks' association with Gillie and Carroll he had never addressed them, except in regard to necessary matters of military routine. The morning had seen but the average grist of petty oflfenders of the lower class, but several days before a score of the principal Dons of the pueblo had been haled before the captain's court and fined heavily for some trifling infractions of the ordmances. The fines were paid with proud promptitude, but the Califomians had left the court room, their eyes flashing with rage, their hps white with suppressed indignation. That the attitude of the people toward the Americans had changed in the last ten days, Carroll was well aware. Their surly demeanor and averted glances told only too plainly that they had come to regard their conquerors with aversion and distrust. ITiere was trouble, too, within the stockade With the exception of a dozen marines, the fifty men of GiUie's command were the former Bear Flag rebels; men whom the lure of the Wander- lust had drawn to this western coast; men who had fought the wild Indians of the plains, trapped the wily beaver on the lonely reaches of unnamed streams, and faced death in a hundred forms in distant mountain canons. Poor material were ^, """ ^^ ">' ^=0 THE STRANGER ,, the^'ci^la^.: ;S^.1S:r^*-'f«-« «o dear to had been to him a long drf ^. *° ™P«^ them ■nen a roaring lucTw^T'^f^y ""1 »<> the to be found fa ^LJ^"' °* •'"ty they were Nigger AJley « th! i^ .k ** ""* '^« ^ops in and hardly a dly p^St^ T " "' *"« P-^ d-^gged. fighting'1^;'*'^"»«"n"»«we,; '"^r^o-i-th°^L^r"'^ »'"P'* act«n^ t^r ^"^ °' »*«' Spanish char- easy indolencTld " ^' *°<^"«»«. its the man of •innei^'HS™ «»tempt ^"^ action. As he steDoedX,, f ^P^"* a°d sunshine the soundTf,^ ""^ *^ """^g came to him f«^ tl^ *,^«' /™nken choruf he sighed wearil" ^^°" "' *« Pla^a. and th^ itd"to° ^'"'tC.h""^'^"' *°"*'' across the stockade tkT? . ^ °P™ '^dw MarehaU. ' ""* '*" but ordered™ ,! f""* understand on startin. a stS.tup fi^t ""^ ^'t "uch medicine if ye^h^h? 'l.''"* *hey is sure bad enough. If f4™^'S^ '?« ""^g way long heU apoppin^ in th,?!^ ^.''^''P' °n, thar'U be Goodr5::tuX"i'f„°'^ « ^^'^ °' '^ ~ iH ■/■' i ■ 48 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO A few moments later the lieutenant encountered MarshaU at the stockade gate. The frontiersman was leading a horse, burdened with a roll of blankets, from the folds of which the handles of a pick and shovel protruded. "Why, Jim," queried Carroll, as he eyed the outfit curiously, "where are you going?" "Jest off to the mountings for a little picnic by myself. An old trapper like me gets kinda restless here in town, with the houses and the people acrowdin' him. " Something of embarrass- ment was evident in Marshall's manner. As he nervously fumbled with the butt of his rifle, his tisuaUy straightforward gaze fell before the lieu- tenant's keen scrutiny. "I got leave of absence for two days from the captain," he explained, after a moment's hesita- tion. "Bring us back some bear meat, Jim," suggested the lieutenant as he turned away. "Mebbe, mebbe." His leathery face twisted m a curious grin, the frontiersman led his horse on out the gate. StiU smiling at MarshaU's unusual demeanor, for It was quite evident the frontiersman had something to conceal, CarroU strolled on idly up the adobe-lined street. St ^lenly screams of pain, and the sound of smacidng blows on bare flesh, caused him to turn and gaze back towa'xi THE SON OP LEO THE STRANGER „ quirt, seart^g ;^' J'I'I ^ »* the leathern coveiTTo^d^*' ISr^ °" *« '^'^ Wood- weaWvfn.fcT . "^y himself, climrinif -as ^hea" S Srt.'"*, "'"'^ ^-« vindictiveness. "^^^ ''"* "°'' <»««b«»te sq^set'^y'^rl, TT^ *" '--in- bound abou^^i, TJ^^lt'fZ "r "- eve,m.g he had hearkened to^he^l"!^ ""! the Indian woman. Prophecy of the'^-tirf Jr"** "'""' ">« American gras,«d -in:^4'r'»^"'^''°--'^«^t^ y<^: """•■' ''^ P«"«'ed. "you f„^ •^^tfth'^ht'^HelS ^"^ ""^ — "the L • • •" '^'^'«> ^ a d«P ba^oj^' the boy js my servant— he has i^a^ Z? ' May I not — " ^ disobedient. • mi 50 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO and in the public stiw^/^ ' »erv«nt.- Rid. on. ««or ." h. Z^"^^ °f • ^^ ^i place you under arrest " ''^^^y* or I will tos. of his sha^i; Jr i'hH::::'"""" the street tov ,rf the pUz, ^ •■"* """P ^_^^ nessea the encounter with a grim '•Good work, lieutenant," he called "h . better take keer of yerself T V- k " J"'" y* ots about that ya JhSi i^'^^T^* to me as full of nrMc«« ureaser. He looks a bad one " "' P<»«»"" « ^Wer. ru bet he's tBoughtfuuy ::w^a%ht"p^u:rhe r-/ haired man had disappeared H- *f. "°°'*- lating as to the iden^^'thf * t!f '"" "P^"" '»biddi„«P««»Uitran1tLS:Temt^ C^S^'t*^ THE SON OP LEO THE STRANGER j, "M^tod him from a noar-by veranda, ^t^hm^^'"'"*'^" •-'«"»««-«• Come ^ of friendly famili^^y "V^ ^e'^ "Wio is the caballero with the yel!o»- hair -!.„ P««<' ju'it a moment ago?- quSTwi. San Mari„rH; k nofo^?,"''* °' *'''-■ ^^^o ^or. but a -mestl^'' a h^^^f "!? t "^• a fojeigner and aallSUl^".^' ""^ ^ "^ |0-Au,nstm.smam,ertht:;to^J^^^^™ -nu,^ were rare u^'ciuZtr^^^^-J^^ i'l ^sm^^^^^immmm^- 5. THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO Prom iTfaS ^vZ' T^ » ^°^- and the feud between them." ' "Don Jos« Antonio Arillo'" Alyaro's sharp eyes twinUed a little at th. qmdc «terest evident in the lieutenam's 1^ The same-DonJos« Antonio. llTms 1*0 he continued, "was ambitious cle^ Zf exiled to S^oCLX^oW ^'°°^° '^ of Arillo's ^^tT^'^'f^J^^ four years Leo held them, but wh^ AriSo r^;, ^ by stealth fo>m Sonora/and^to mS^ ^^"^ another revolution agii^ rt, ^^^ - i^-ed at the gr^^Xltle^S r ?^^ And the new governor gave back to TW^ x Antonio the ^ncho of the S^ PaSuS^;^°t father, nor Zi:^orJX.l Z'Z'^^t with the unbehevable effront«y of his father! he THE SON OP LEO THE STRANGER ss •laoghter in cartas Tt^°."!.': *^»» this S«" Marino, 'and C, S S.""" *^ ^*° cattle, hides, and tJSw to tJ^'f" ^"' »"* on the coast. YetTtLT ^mencan ships the ««,te ""'y the giant ^n nodded ^ °"^ afternoon." "That, seiior, is the Dew,!', n . ?r^- Much Z^^^ tt~ry * =P<" beiore the coming of rt. ., ^^ ">* Indians the.^ are but^rL 1?^^. ""^ ^» ^et ««.te^-ofe^ --nd about the San ptTu^,I^:,:;2j;nrd pardon me to sa^ tt'" ^ "" a I CHAPTER V BNGLANO'S AGENT 'pHE dingy little room was dusty, unswept, and festooned with grimy cobwebs hanging m the dark comers. On the cracked and time- soiled walls the distorted shadows of the two men at the table, stirred to life by the idle flickering of the candle flame, swayed grotesquely. Hugo Vanuela threw down his cards with a muttered oath. "The devil himself is in the cards to-night— I can win nothing." He reached over to the bottle and filled the glass with red wine. The other, a big bearded man in the leather leggmgs of a vaquero, gathered up the cards and laid them aside in a neat pile. Pocketing the com on the table, he remarked philosophicaUy as he lifted the candle to light his cigarette: "Truly, Senor Vanuela, it comes in that manner sometimes, to aU of us. But before we began at the cards you were saying that Governor Pico and Commandant Castro were quarreling before the Americans came." "Yes, for neariy a year— always. Then Castro went north. Then there came into the San Joaqmn Valley this American Fremont, with his fur traders and trappers. Later they made a 56 ENGLAND'S AGENT 5; revolution and seized Sonoma. Then Commodore Stockton and his ships came to Monterey. Com- mandant Castro tried to raise men for an anny to fight the American, while Don Pio Pico was , here asking for men to fight Castro. "Both Pico and Castro wrote haughty letters to one another, and made proclamations. It is aU very funny now. as one looks back— the Ameri- cans came so soon. Then both Pico and Castro returned to the pueblo with their Uttle armies and embraced. But." he added with a shrug of his shoulders, "the people did not want to fight " "Was the legislature in session when they returned to the south?" asked the bearded man as he shot a sly, sidewise glance at the Califomian' "Yes, sefior, they were busy with the plan of Padre MacNamara. Pico, after he came back favored the plan. After talking for a whole week, they adopted it." "MacNamara— I do not think I have heard of him. Agam his fuU brown eyes, from betv een tus half-closed eyelids, were stealthily searching Vanuela's face. "Santa Maria, but that was a plan!" Hugo a)ntinued, with a flash of enthusiasm. "That Padre MacNamara, por Dios, but he wasaman'— taller even than you, and broad — like a church door. To the legislature he talked for hours, for days, and held them Ustening like children. He 58 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO asked them for much land in the north, whereon to settle many thousand of his countrymen, the people of Ireland; for the Irish, as you may not Imow sefior, are CathoHcs. and not heretics like the English and Americans." The ghost of a smile showed under the black beard, and the listener nodded silently. "There were many rich men of England with l^u'^^l ^' ?^' "^^ ^^^ Sreat comiections, and had it been but a few months earHer it would have saved us from the coming of these cursed Amencans. If it had been in time. England would never have permitted California to be taken away from them, and the American commodore would not have dared to place his flag on the customhouse at Monterey. For EngUsh ships wrth maiiy cannon were there in the bay at the "Truly, a magnificent plan! As you say it would have made a great nation of Calif omk — a great Christian nation." Through the closed door came the raucous roar of a dnnkmg song, and the maudlin laughter of mtoxication. * •'And the p«)ple?" queried the bearded one. Are they satisfied with the present regime?" Ten thousand devils, no! They hate the Amenc^s. Not a cockfight since they entered the pueblo. One camiot go on the street after ENGLAND'S AGENT ^ im^ derazcn have aU signed the p^fe „ot^ fight^ttheAmerican^the.^tLis?!'^ Have you signed the parole?" ^' The brovn face o£ Vanuela nv4rf«,^ answered shortly, "No " """ened. and he oth^^.'^vr^fs;>--««e in *S^l,'c~ ""• ^- •««- that he is "He is not." The bearded one was on his feet nn™. " . ^^^^ hoId^gtheCahfo^ian. T^^^^e^,^ the strong hnes of his features, the piercing ktn ness of his eknce anH ^h^ u \a ^'^^^^S ^een- fuU brown eve -^ J ^ assurance in his tm Drown eye. His very personality radiated ^wer but Ins smile, as he gazed at V^uda w2 seductive and winning. *«iueia, was "He is here," he said quietly. Vanuela sprang to his feet, and stepped back. 6o THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO Then, as his glance swept the other's countenance —the full, broad brow, the masterful gaze— the light of recognition came into the Califomian's face. "So — you are — " "Padre MacNamara, at your service. Three months in the hills have given me this." He touched his beard with his hand. "You do not seem overcome with joy at seeing me, my friend." He showed his white teeth in a smile, a smile that in many lands had won its way to the hearts of men and women alike. Vanuela regarded him for a moment, distrust showmg m every line of his countenance. "So-o-o," he said slowly. "But why do you tell me this? What is to prevent me from inform- ing the Americans ? " MacNamara laughed. "Because, my friend, I know men, and you are not the man to betray to the enemies of your country one who has drunk with you. Especially when it is your much admired MacNamara, the continuation of whose life and the success of whose plans nvean so much to your coimtry." Again the radiant, winning smile illumined his face, and in spite of himself, Vanuela smiled back. You judged rightly." h'. said, as he grasped MacNamara'shand. "But your great plan avails nothmg now; it is too late." MacNamara pounded on the table with the ENGLAND'S AGENT . 6t bottle, and the innkeeper apoeared v^^u supply of wine. aPPeared with a new JNot so. my friend," he r^umed. "It is not against the"^ V^^'^l^ ^^' ^^ ^ fight anything." ^^^^^ ^^ not do ;;Are you ready to do anything?" . ^°* ^^«»t the support of the m«, «,», u ^ven their parole Tt »^ m I ^^ ^^*^ ^^e "Then " VT^S ''"^'^ ^ useless." thou^ ''tK^H."^^^ - -^o^enfs pamie Is tW« ?T *^ °^^^ ^° ^'^ their Amaga, Banc^^'io-.^^^'^^' '^^^"°' ^^^' "A little information I would aslc " Kt-^u • w4r^ ''^ ^^- ^y^- Cota, Kco." he ^ i'^^^Z'^ ''i*^!"'>'' "■« P'^'^ ««*«1 by • ci\amaras disjomted words thp r^iv • )^ fd up quickly, the balrf^ giadnej^f't™'^ tte^i'^^^^.^^X.rhe'^'^""'"'"* «"> in a soft showe; Tmi^' «» co„. on the K 6a THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO •'Sm!^\ . ^® Americans while the t^is a s^^,:^ *^^ ^t rashness now. the rest will be easy ^fZ^ "T °' ^«>ntent. blood is spilled -hoid. I TZT'^ ^ •ncl much drinking next Pwl ^^®'« ^1 be jt » Mexican ln^^^^-^.;«l'~«' to-day; the rabble for thTpm^ rf L T? * "* "» •t the gate of the JSel IT* ?" ^""^ *»"« and shoot. If^fr* ""^'^ t*"" beat froUc. With plenty of no^l^^'^^ " """^ ^ &*• If they L^TuZ^'^;'^' ^'""^^ nothinglost. Ev«^'; ' ^"= "^ "°t' there is think yon?" ^^"«'^'*«'Plained. What VanueU smiled and nodded In i,- .. much doubted the succe^nf; *" ""^^^ he the Americans -bu?^ °f f J' "^'t against Antonio AriUo fadS' ^! ^""^ °f Don Jos* against a stone w^ h^wl™* f"""' "^^ ^'^ tantalizing him ,^^ '^" " '*' Srip. and was 7'k.ith*Ma^:^-*iP^'>^ty^ He would P^ coincided with hist^ L ff ^^"""^""'^ both desired to drive iZ^:. ' P"*^* they ;ho had signed tl^ ZiTbT!^ *« "^ desire to see the ravnif f **■ ^n* he had no would win in 4r«d ZT- ?* American, ^ or the buUe?'H^ttt"-,^Arillo,the take care of itself. ""^e^er, let the future It It »f. : 64 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO "There is a crowd of wild young fooU in the dty who, I am told," he said, "play at revolution, and call one of their number 'governor' and another 'commandant.' With plenty of wine, yes, it can be done." MacNamara drew from his podcet a handful of gold. "Take this to wet the throats of your gay young friends, and deepen their ardor." Vanuela, ever avaricious, gathered it up; it was a hundredfold what he had lost at cards. Laying his hand on Hugo's shoulder, the other said seriously: "You are to do a great work for California to-day, mi amigo, and when the British flag floats over this dty you will not be forgotten. Long after you and I have crumbled into dust the story of to-night's doings shall be a tale that shall be told to little children in the days to come." Vanuela, as he noted the flash of the other's eyes and the ring of enthusiasm in his voice, looked his uncomprehending wonder, but he shrewdly resisted the desire to shrug his shoulders, and answered gravely: "I believe it, sefior." With his hand on the door, he turned to the Englishman. "But stiU, I do not understand. Suppose that you had been mistaken, and that after I had heard your plan I had not agreed?" I.; 1 II ENGLAND'S AGENT enough. - ^^ wine— t is coxnmon f«^ro/t^:S,e''Z„'''""^» »' - ♦■■' *ade4 caiti^'sto?^ "°''*'''^^ ''"° °'"»'» °ffi« the w( lain stopped massagine his lin f«^ « «« toward the door. .o^d the newcomer. -WhalTyo^'nl^^f ^««o VanueU. serior. f„„ the'^CnL loiow, to whom the coming of the 66 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO Americans was welcome —very welcome. They wiU always have my support and sympathy in aU things." He paused to note the eflfect of his words, but the officer's face was inscrutable. "Good; I am glad to hear it. Proceed." "I would warn the captain to be careful. There is much discontent in the pueblo. The people are restless and dissatisfied. They do not like the regulations that the Sefior Captain has estabUshed." "Yes, I have suspected as much. Oh, they wiU get used to them in time. Do you know of anything definite.?" Vanuela hesitated. "Ah, the sefior, like aU Amencans, goes straight to the point— a wonderful people. Yes— so quick they do everything. Nothmg have I heard but rumors, it being difficult for me to find the truth, because my friendship for the captain's countrymen is weU known. But this much is certain, sefior, that there are meetings bemg held, secretly, and often." Gillie 's hand left his lip ; he was aU attention now. Where, and who attend them?" he asked, as he took up his pea and drew a sheet of p^per toward him. "That I cannot say positively, sefior, but I fear that it is at the home of Don Jos6 Antonio Anllo. Of that I cannot be reaUy sure, and can offer no proof, except that it is plain, in case of li ENGLAND'S AGENT 67 fighting, he is the one man f *,«„ ^ lead them " ^^^ ^^""^ "Pon to st Hardly had Vanuela stepped out into the dark- ne^ when Jun MarshaU stroUed in leisurely. The frontiersman's wrinkled eyes, looking at Gilhe from under his broad-brimmed hTWere keen and eager. "Say, captain, — recoUect them military ways; but no offense - ^^g to oblige. Now them thar old guS of Castro s hvm' out thar in the stockade-they 're m pretty fair shape, cept for the spikin', and I km take that out with add. Kin ye get »v acid, captain.?" ^ ' "^ you know my decision later. Meanwhile, there are more miportant things to attend to ^ dZ^^r ,'°?lf """^ "^ »"« guardhouse You will repair them at once, you understand •' ENGLAND'S AGENT 69 "All right, captain." -^T^r^,««' «f^'^ thoughts favorably impS^ tte 'ZfZ'^r'^^ m his clumsy MBricaTwav to "?!?" *^''«' him in order to morTe^v o^f ^7 ^*'""" "^^ in the form of pei4" ^«n " '""" **^ they were a iZZ^' . ' °"^ '=°^'* "o* *<=": -ubie h^f ■4:^rwo^«t: i^ii :o'i::r spy among the enemy. As for Arate th * nothing to be done at pr«^t 4^°' '""^ "«* of the wine room, »„/Ir^ ^* "*" ™"ors wr \juiie. With all his npntlia^^.;^ a just man. according to hif igC^r;.""^ however, he must dn — ul . . " """g, that Vanuela wt nt pttSy^^t ^ destroy t^ml^t^I^f "" '^«''* '»-"3' He did not know that the keen eyes of John / § 70 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO CarroU had noted the Califomian leaving the office To make sure that he had made no sT^';. "^"^ T '^^ «^^ ^^^ «-^>^ the s^t. thus commg face to face with Vanuela. S^leTnXV'^^'^f ^^"^^^S^y- Neither ^ke but both must have felt rn instinctive hos- tihty for m theu- souls at that moment was born a dishke so bitter that death alone could eradi- cace it. CHAPTER VI MARSHALL'S WARNING T^'^-^':^ ,'-^ booted and spo^ and equipped for weeks on the hiUs^ awaiting the word of command to marrh -ru were Benito Willard's^moa^v^f ' T?'^ oi^anized some weeks bef^rafrh. ""^''^' of Stockton. ^ ^® suggestion fla JT tK"^"*'^, '^^ commodore had hoisted his the coast everv v*»qt. k„-*. • /^=****=« visited tallow ChZL r^Vu^^^ ^°" ^'^«« and ^ow. Charmed by the mdolent. care-free life th.^T'Jv *^'^ ^«^cans none stood higher with the Califomians than Ben Willard ^ "7^ Ben^to-'astheycalledhim. His s^ing In^^ 71 i'l 72 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO his strength of character, and his kindliness had so won their hearts that, though he was not a Mexican citizen, they had insisted on his serving as alcalde of the eastern district where his rancho, the Hurupa, was located. He owned one of the few stores in the pueblo, and had taken to wife a daughter of one of the foremost Califomian families. It was with great reluctance that WiUard had accepted Stockton's commission as captain of the mihtia company. His warm feeling for the people among whom he had found a home made him averse to serving in a military capacity, even though there seemed Uttle prob- ability of further hostilities. In spite of lack of inches there was about Ben Willard, as with WiU Harbin his Ueutenant he stood on the veranda listening to Captain Gillie's final instructions, an air of reserved force that unconsciously ir.spired confidence and re- spect. His deep ha. /I eyes were quietly quizzi- cal, but there wa- kctuness and decision in his thin lips and closely set mouth. "I have reliable information that Commandant Castro is in Cucumonga Cafion, and that he is secretly recruiting a large body of men. Bring him in, dead or alive," Gillie was saying. Hugo Vanuela, seated idly on a neighboring veranda,— one would fancy half asleep,— with a satisfied smile watched the cavalcade as it MARSHALL'S WARNING n "deaway. It was he who had carried to the A^encan commander the imaginanr rumor rf the commandant's whereabouts. TOe idTU origmated with MacNamara. who. tao^ ™ ^-astro. had concocted the story It mh^*!"'"'^ *^'>' as the two had hoped. It robbed the city of its best defense fortte dt ^1'^"" '"PP'^'^ " evolution in ;^ «^ These men knew the Califomian spirit- ^^^ uifluential in council, and whfleXy As the handful swung out into the open road at a qmck canter, not one among them dreai^d that th«-e would be trouble during their ab^^ They id not know that a British icret a^^Z ^D ^c2ir ""^ ^"^ "'''" *« f""^ owner: smp of Cahfomia hung trembling in the balance among a trio of American, BAish, a^d iS^^ -«nva^ nations. Ex«pt for Lieu;eZt ^Z ^U, there was not a man left in the cit^ ex^te. "^^^'^ ""■'J »^Pi« and Vanuela The breach between Carroll and GiUie had widened recently. Car^U had not been tato "•to Grlhe's confidence in regard to Vanud^ J; 74 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO frequent visits, and the lieutenant was piqued because this evidence of trust was withheld from a subordinate whose experience and knowledge of the people were valuable. Indeed Gillie had for a time contemplated sending CarroU with miurd's company, and the heart of the soldier almost stood stiU with the first fear he had ever known. Some trivial incident had diverted Gillie from his purpose, and the Ueutenant heaved a sigh of relief as a cloud of dust, mounting to the evemng sky, announced that the company had passed beyond all danger of being overtaken ev«i should the captain change his mind. For Jack Carroll had made up his mind that to-mght was the night of all nights in his Ufa. lo-mght he was to call at the house of Arillo and ask the Don for the hand of his daughter A more cautious man would have sought out some fnend. say Don Augustin Alvaro, told of his purpose, and asked his cooperation- roundabout negotiations would have foUowed' with probably the same result. But Carroll was an American. He felt that the way had been suffiaently paved by the former meeting- Loreto s clinging arm and her worshiping eyes had told hun her answer to his yet unspoken question. He was willing, even anxious, to give the parents all due deference, but suspense was maddening -m^w '^^m'-^"^":": MARSHALL'S WARNING hour. ^ ^ happmess for a single for his welfare ^7 • '^ * '''*P "»>«*ni his heart. ^"•"tude that went straight to ware n't anr^^tSf f «"' ""'W- There >i'e Perhai rrd^e"Jt^\Tr '"^ "^ whare they wuz Thiciv i. "^ ^ . he SiS 76 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO evasively, "and I could gather up a bit, I suppose. Perhaps when I got back to the Stotes, what I 've put away would n't look much. I want to tell you somethin', son." "Well?" said Carroll, somewhat amazed. "Don't postpone any weddin' for lack of chink. Go 'long, now." Carroll turned away, marveling at the remark. He knew questions were useless. Marshall's final word was always, "Go 'long." When the frontiersman uttered those words, it was A sign that the conversation had ended. Marshall walked over and inspected the stockade gate. "Ain't much to them gates. A ten-year-old boy with a good copper-toed boot could kick a hole through this one. And that bar is shaky, too." Brooks, a typical marine, nodded and grinned. Concerned only in obe)dng orders as they came to him, day by day, Marshall's inquisitive ini- tiative and restless speculation were to him a never-ending source of amusement. "Ain't worrying me none It's the captain's business," he remarked. Marshall strode over to the veranda where Gillie stood, and saluted awkwardly. "Say, captain, about that acid—" "I have decided not to bother with the guns. MARSHALL'S WARNING M«^; thejr a« not worth it. And by th. w^. ^» your repair work o„ tiJZ^ om^ It „„ even wor« condition Uum J^'' '^ "^«^- -<» "• J-itated . T^^t^" ^^ ^ TJT'^ for a moment?" th«^wJ^^ ""^ "*» the office, and an of rL . ^™- ^°" ""^ you have ^eht I^ 1,*^ °"* **«• but only lait ^eshop talfan- of a cannon-a brass camion- iney saw me Iistenia'. and quit talldn'- but ^Zy^ "^ X HaO got tSat .^;,t TThe captain smUed sarcasticafly. lood LS^ "*°i" ''* "^ Patn>n«ingly. "your good intCTtions do you infinite credit, but I fetr you have 'cam.on- on the brain. I W P0«t,vely we have aU the gun. Cast™ eLZ^ ">d besides, you ought to know enough aCt these people to know they have no reaUntS. e a sil^TthTn f"^'- ^^ ^ ^andneph:w"f 5'Sner of the Declaration of Indeoendenci. l,i= famJy that proudly tmced its linl^ ^ ' * associate of Lord Baltimore Ont^ T >ia/i ««. ^ t •"fAiiiure. un tins score he I^ no apprehens,on: that he had been ini^t^ to the house gave him courage and hope. jJL,^ ^^"^ *''* ^'° home, Don Tos6 My house is yours, my house is yours." he I. .;;'M : n Jf^^^H i^ 84 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO repeated wiui a sincerity that almost made the timewom expression of hospitality for once believable. The dispatch of the soldiers urged Carroll to immediate action, and his preliminary words were indeed very incidental. He had come to win a bride. Why delay? "Yours is a beautiful country, sefior," he declared, trying to imitate the prefacing remarks with which the Mexican always heralds some important topic. "I have seen the blue bays of Italy, and the orange groves of Andalusia, but they cannot compare with your California. I have decided to remain, and when the war on the Rio Grande is over I shall purchase a rancho and make my home here." "Glad indeed am I to hear it," replied the Don, in a tone so deliberate that he betrayed his anticipation of the declaration that was to follow. His hand halted midway in stroking his beard, and he looked seriously into Carroll's eyes, as though he would search and see if his soul and heart and mind were true. "Don Jos6 Antonio," said Carroll, rising to his feet to give added impressiveness to his words, "I am a soldier and a gentleman, the son of a soldier and a gentleman. I come not to boast of myself, but to tell you first that my hands are clean and my conscience clear, and that A SOLDIER'S WOOING mTw^/rT^^^ '"y grandfather before n^ ®^'' country " Don Jos6 Antonio nodded gravely. CarroU knew well AriUo's standards and hi^ briefly and modestly as he could. ^And now I have the honor to ask vou to P^it me to pay my addresses to your daughter that I may ask her hand in mairiage." ' ^^Cool and unflinching, he looked into Arillo's J^V'^Pripeless jewel you ask for." he resumed »n his poetic fashion. "And yet -17^,^ come to ii<: *!,« *• t. ^ ' " ?*^ust To the mother CairoU's style changed in r ^«™klmg, and in almost caiesdng Z^e to Id of his ove for her daughter. As he tSced ttZ "Oman's eyes filled with tearTaSd ^1«Se protest was virtuaUy a consent. ShfwS a woman who loved a chivalrous lover. she iz SLS;;."" "™^ *" ^°- °- «>-fy ?•• "Ah, no, sefiora: your land and your daughter 86 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO won my heart in the same hour. I had just told Don Jos6 Antonio that I propose to make California my home when the war is ended." The seAora was thinking fast. She blushed. "The children— they ^411 be Catholics?" "Assuredly; I was bom in the faith." Don Jos6 Antonio looked at hei triumph- antly. "The saints be praised," she said devoutly, "else this love of yours had be n a calamity." She was silent for a space, her arms folded, her foot tapping incessantly on the rug. As she gazed out the window into the moonlit garden, her ^'yes again sought the shadowy clump of rosebushes in the far comer. There was a crafty look in her full-orbed glance as she again met Carroll's gaze. "But if, when the war in Mexico is over, — if your army is driven back into Texas, — if yotir Hag goes down and Calitomia still remains a part of Mexico and you are called away — seiior, I fear it would then be impossible." Carroll smiled at the supposition. "Nothing can come between us." He spoke firmly, and the mother's eyes brightened with admiration at the declaration of constancy. "Army regulations would permit me to withdraw from the service and, as I said before, this land shall be my home." HI A SOLDIER'S V700ING 87 The mother's eyes softened, and her tone betrayed her final capituJation. "Loreto." she called. Jx)reto AriUo entered slowly. Not the pouting, dimpled, laughing, care-free girl of the casement- not the bewitching, elfin creature who had clung to him far beyond the necessity of fear, a few nights ago, but a woman, magnificent, queenly, and senous with all the dignity of her race. To-night she showed Lieutenant Carroll that the daughter of the AriUos did not depend on smiles or glances for her beauty. To-night she gave him proof that she was qualified by every gace to be the wife of an American officer. Hers were more theji girlish fascinations. Her beauty was lustrous, almost Egyptian. There was not the suspicion of a smile on her lips as she advanced with the grace of a queen, and extended her hand that he might kiss it. Marveling, he crazed at the woman who was to be his wife; enraptured by tlie metamon?hosis he raised her hand to his lips with almost religioas reverence. One moment she looked, into his eyes, long and wistfully. "Had you not come," she whispered, "my heart would have broken." Her words, the touch of her hf ids, the look in her velvety eyes, again sent the wild gaUopers loose in the veins of John CarroU. Hardly /' i »•. SB THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO could he restrain himself from gathering her in his anns and raining kisses on her upturned face. But the cahn eyes of the sefiora were upon them; the unwritten law of the land and the people forbade. His charmed brain was telling him one overweening fact. In any land, in any company, among any rank or fashion or condition of society, here- was a woman of whom he would ever be proud. No child-wife would slie be; no capricious miss to be humored, caressed, or scolded. No, to-night she was the woman glorious, dignifying his suit with a seriousness merited by a love like his. As they chatted together with the strange, newborn familiarity of love, all her hauteur vanished, and she was once again the witching maiden of his first impression. Her eyes wide with wondering worshipfulness, she listened to his tales of a soldier's Uh by land and sea. In silent enthrallment he watched her baby-like fingers flashing across the harp strings as she sang to him,— old melodies first sung by some forgotten troubadour in the dim centuries of the past among the far-off hills of Aragon. As Don Jos6 Antonio looked upon them, he sighed softly. Yet as his slow glance dwelt approvingly upon the virile lines of the soldier's well-knit frame, at his hendsome face all aglow with new-foxmd happmess, he smiled with satisfied A SOLDIER'S WOOING 89 pride. Such a son would S* «« ^• tllc house of AriUo. "° ^''''^^ *^ ^lore mat such a woman existed. Intoxicated ^LLltT ^'f '^"« ^'"-^ that Tet:^ awake marvehng at the suddenness and co nZV ness of her capitulation, he feltT^„* ^ sorrow for IdnM r ° ' f"- ^^^^ * «*"temptuous gods, for all^f ;o'rid.'H::' ^Jt '^T' electrified witht,,^'^ "°""^^^' '^^ ^<^ „.^%"^"^°^t walked homeward with ^h^ jocular waging. "Beware the Btadc L^^"^: shite Z'r i?." *? "^ ""PP"^ H^^-^^d Shake hands with the devU himself to-nijht Hunmn or supernatural were aU alike tt ll ?^ ,f ''.'"* "^™'**^- H* started to whis^- Oh. the heart that has truly loved." ra« 90 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO he stopped. It seemed that a form was rising out of the ground, in a shadowy comer not twenty feet away. He heard the clicking of coin and scraping of earth, as though something was bemg buried when his whistle interrupted opera- tions. He stopped and gazed; the figure rose to full stattire. "Who goes there?" he demanded. "A friend— let me pass," said a voice, evidently disguised. CarroU blocked the way; the voice was not a strange one. A menacing arm was raised as though to frighten the lieutenant; a cloak was drawn across the face as Loreto had described the specter. "Halt, or I shoot," commanded Carroll, who though onarmed had the soldier's instinct. "Thedevilyou will,"repliedthefigure, dropping the cloak, and Jim Marshall stood before him. "Congratulations, lieutenant," he chuckled. In puzzled amazement the officer stared at the frontiersman's black raiment, at the short cloak hanging from his arm, at the round knobbed hat of the bull fighter. "Jim," he pretested, "what can you possibly mean by such foolishness? It is dangerous. The provost guard may fire on you." "Oh, I guess not," drawled MarshaU, as he walked away. A SOLDIER'S WOOING „ . "Good night, Ueutenant." he caUed back JfcuWI^ "What people dc«'t unTersiS should nt ever bother them none. Astillton^ 1^, makes no trouble between friends.^ iong, now. m the direction m which MarshaU had disappeared I'dei^rrg"^" ^^ ^ --'^ --^ond Then as he resumed his way to the stockade he forgot the man and his masquerading. His sold fiUed with the joy of life ^ love, he went to his cot to dream of his bride to be CHAPTER VIII "COMO TE AMO, AMAMB" OILENCE and darkness had faUen on the *^ house of Arillo. Alone in her room sat Loreto, her hands clasped behind her head, a happy smile on her curving red lips. Carroll's deep manly tones, his quaint little touches of accent, his large white hands that could strike such mighty blows, were aU her thoughts. "Ah, what a man he is," she whispered caress- ingly to herself. Through the barred window came the tinkling melody of a guitar; then a rich, clear voice sang: "So still and calm the night is, The very wind 's asleep; Thy heart 's so tender sentinel. His watch and ward doth keep. And on the wings of zephyrs soft That wander how they will. To thee, oh, woman fair, to thee, My prayers go flutterbg still. To thee, oh, lady fair, to thee. My prayers go fluttering still. "Oh, take the heart's love to thy heart Of one that doth adore. Have pity— add not to the flame That btims thy troubadour, And if compassion stir thy breast For my eternal woe. "COMO TE AMO, AMAME" 93 Oh, as I love tiwe, loveliest Of women, love me so. Oh, as I love thee, loveliest Of women, love me so."» Could it be her American?-but no. it was Zl^ 7«- As she giasped the b^ Z^ both hands, and peered out into the ^gH. young man stepped dose to the window fLk °'/"f '='P«'»°'=y °» his d«amy, moMe w A httle npple of laughter gree Jhim "T^" Se^-Servolo Pale... is it thou? ^i "Loreto mine. I have always loved thee since thou wert a little, little girl." "But Servolo." she protested, "how foolish Jos* and Manuel, like a brother.'^ "■* Could I speak of love with others ever near? t^o ■Z\*^'' f*"' thanks be to i^' w '^ "°' fwhsh." he said with dignity as he took her hand and raised it to his KiT Always, always, hast thou been to me the hght of my life, the joy of my heart aL if would km me. Wo. I thou 'c^S' not 1^4' Little she knew how truly he spoke. tnuSr.'S^'c^ I- lS:>^ «»« ^<1 P«»i«ion of the ■1 ^U, J ;• if • r'" :¥■-*- ; ^. i i 94 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO "But, Servolo." she said, amazement still strong upon her, "I never thought-I never dreamed— I do love thee. Thou art very dear to me, even as Jos6 and Manuel are." "No, no," he protested, and there was a world of pain in his tone, "I love thee as a man loves the woman he would wed." "Oh, Servolo, I am so sorry— so sorry for thee. It seems so strange—" The tears trembled on her dark lashes. "But it can never never be." "Has some one else been singing at thy win- dow? he asked, a new note of fierceness in his voice. "No, Servolo, no. It is not the American way to— She checkea herself, and covered her face with her hands. "I had not intended to tell." "An American, Jesus Maria! An American!" he repeated incredulously. "And they so rough and wild.— men who drink much wine, shout and fight, and He like dogs in the open street. Oh, Loreto!" "All Americans are not like that; Don Benito Willard and Don Abel Steams are good men and Seiior Carroll is an officer and a gentleman' and also— thanks be to the Holy Mother— a Catholic." "An officer— a gentleman— and a Catholic," "COMO TE AMO, AMAME" „ J«ad drooped betw«„ rt,^ •»«. and as his up his head, -r^ ,^ ?f«^- throwing have thee!" ' "^ >all hani He shaU not kif me also, Zt^ t^f'^^^'l /' ™«>d I love him so." ^"^ ^ '°^e him, than fatherTmX ^l! ^^ ''^^^ »°» aUthe world." ''"'*^' "<>« than '•H^r'^ he spoken yet.'" their^'co^t-th^" r •T*" '"^ ^-» m California v-hT^e :ar"''i^ "' "^ =*^^ But, promise me oh Z " ^*""' ^ °'er- 96 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO I blame thee not. My life I would give for thee gladly, as before." He had recovered his composure, and his handsome face bore evidence of the truth of his brave, fervid words. "Still shall I love thee, Loreto. Ever, if I may, let me serve thee. In these troublous times, perhaps I may shield and defend thee. Thus may I forget my grief until kind Death releases me." Then lifting her fingers to his lips, he strode away in the darkness. And Loreto Arillo, her tender heart aching for the friend of her childhood, wept silently on her pillow, till sleep fell upon her. CHAPTER IX "tHB sons of ANCIBNT SPAIN" T^d^'S.T^^ °^ ^« »o^« ««g died away, and the mngmg ended with a final sweeo on ti stnngs of the guitar. Heas^ at^ applause, ready and generous, the ^ tj^ happxly. and handed the instrumenf t^^ young man across the table. "It is now for thee, Servolo— pardon me governor. Something of thine own " ' under the little curled mustache. Cast in a slender m.old. light-limbed and gracSul hk 'rS 'r "b '^^f 1 "^'^ "^y ^ -^' ^^^ iramea the broad low brow nf t^o a • idealist Vo*. *u ^ *"® dreammg laeaJist Yet there was something of strength m he long sweep of the pointed jaw. ZT^e could easily imagine that the soft eyes coSS^snTp m anger. Just at present they were h^w Zh ill-concealed sorrow PalerA L^ "^vy wiin his heart. ^^^ * "^^^^^ «« As his fingers wandered aimJessIy over the stnngs he ga^d around at the dozen'yoi^g mt flames^and the closed and shuttered windows. Look without the door, commandant." he said to Ignacio Reyes. 97 i 'It 98 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO He hummed a slow crain, his fingers ever searching, seeking on the strings for something that eluded them. Then the notes repeated, wavered, and rose again, till the twinkling fingers found themselves, and as Reyes re&iterud with the words, "AU is weU," the music floated into a low, plaintive melody of the minor chord. A moment only it surged on alone, then his clear tenor voice broke forth in song. "The 8tr-nger rules our fathers' laod, Our flag in dust is lain; Our heads we bow to his conunand, We Sons of Ancient Spain. Our pulses thrill to the wondrous tale Of their deeds in days of old. Ca! can it be otir cheeks grow pale. Our hearts grow weak and cdd? "The race whose bold an4 hardy sons, First Ocean's wastes essayed. The Cross et us then go in the darkness and sing in the ears of our friend Gillie the wonderfj^ng Ir ^*' u^*' ^^ '"^y ^^'^ ^« have not7^! learts. TwiU be rare sport to bring him and ills men tumbling from their beds, but to ^ upon an empty street." w gaze "But hold." said Palera; "they may fire uoon - pe man Gillie has been much 1^:!^ "Bah! In the darkness we are safe. The Americans shoot weU. but in the night, and when straight. However, if thou art afraid-" ^o^f''\ ^^"^ I'^^PP^ indignantly. "I wiU go, he said quietly. ■ -si' I '11 104 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO "And noise, noise," broke in a voice. "We must have plenty of it; there is an old drum in the back room, I believe." "There is. It needs only tightening," said Ignacio, as he hastened to get it. "Wait," said Pablo. "I will get father's old escopeta. It is but a few steps across the vine- yard. There is a charge of powder in it ah-eady." Silently, and with infinite caution, the little line of dark f gures trailed across the vineyards and wound through cornfields, stopping here and there at a warning signal from Vanuela. Reaching the main road leading from the river to the houses thickly grouped about the plaza, they lay flat on their faces in an olive grove while an American patrol trotted past. "Tie up that drum a little tighter, Ignacio. It clanks and is noisy," whispered Servolo. There was no moon, and the sky, overcast with a blanket of clouds, showed not a single solitary star. Through the inky reek of the night they crept past houses where dogs barked inquiringly. As they stole across the street toward the stockade gate Vanuela lagged behind and, slipping to the rear of one of the buildings, was lost in the dark- ness. In the intense excitement of the moment his absence was uimoticed. Suddenly the hush of night was broken by loud yells, the rattle of a drum, and a single shot. CHAPTER X THE CLANK OP CHAINS the light of the flaring torcTtS; t^hT" • " 'oar of dnmken men. ^ing aT^^^.'^'^f d^ to nudnight. and only an W ago *Z^ front.«^men were greater disturbers of tte ^ tarns peace o mind than even the Califo^ even h,m a list of the men whTt sa.?^ oT^.S^him"'' »-»^ "^^ ^ o men vrhose paroles were locked in his^ ■■pd»w. the^ZJ^r,.*f.?:?"'«»°«»- Pshaw, the feUow is lying," 105 he assured i 106 THE DONS OP THE OLD PUEBLO p^es." '"^"^ '"'" ^ "°' «°^« *° b^ tJ^eir The imprisoned men in the guardhouse had qmeted down, and to his ears camT^^nH^tered SThe i: "^^ ''^ """" °^ long-dra™:;: At the gate the crunch, crunch, of the sentry's footsteps was broken only by the short sto^wlTre he turned to retrace his beat. Suddenly, by the east gate, the blackness of the ri^sh of many feet and the quick, regular throbbmg of a drum. Above it aU ros^ th^ sound .f singing, fierce and triumphant. "Thesun shall see their bannera gleam, The Sons of Ancient Spain." Stones rattled on the gate and hurtled in the darkness over the low wall; the dnun tatSrf a wJd fanfare, and the crimson streak of a eZhot deft the darkness. In quick response t^Se of the sentry at the gate barked out towZZ sound of the tumult. * "To arms! To arms!" The wild cry echoed through the stockade and m a moment it was filled with men hS ^ and hatless, their guns in the" iJT then- eyes w.de and wondering. Some one Xew open the guardhouse door, and the prisonSs stangely sober now. took their places TZ walls. In a moment, above gate and wall aliS THE CLANK OP CHAINS ,07 musket barrels protruded Tt, -t ^ited. glaring intoThr^e^fort^^^ '"'^ of a moving figure Par o f ^ «^^mmer m the darkness. *^®^ "^en n«e ^rZnm^ °°ilir* '-^ '»" -^th laag>' e at himf ?, °'™ "^ "ere In the wild tumult of his tired hrJIuF^^ sen' *^t^' looking at him wondS;. t ^r?H ""' explain. '=*"^giy, He could not stuped In^^etc^Xt^- °^" "'= -"' Jos^ Antonio tuJ^^edT^Ti^T °'?°" He staggered back as a te^dT '" '""'^• the face. With ey^ l^L W "hi " " tow^ the waU. where hungL^;d''^ ^""^ Soo.«r^a'Se"^K^^ "* ^'^'°- »«ver! a«.ou whlt^^STarS""^^' °°« and held hto, f«ri^ T^ '^^ *'»"' him. -^ap^tlr^^esT^^^-the^oor Jos/^d tlr^' ""^ ■*^°- I*«'o, Manuel his head^t '^,*^!^«''*?0°°Jos6 Antonio, trickCin'^LtaS"^ °f »S- -d shame there was a oteL^„-, c^"' °" *« ^°0'- , " '""'="6 "^ of utter consternation M 1' 110 THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEPLO from them all, — from all save Loreto and her mother. ■ Carroll held up his hand, and his voice, hoUowand broken, reached their ears in an tmavailing protest. "Believe me, Seiiora Arillo, it breaks my heart to do this. But a soldier must obey orders. Perhaps all will be well to-morrow." The seilora had been clinging to her husband, her face wrenched in agony, her cheeks wet with tears. She turned on Carroll a look of fierce, burning hatred. "You cur!" she cried. Loreto stood near her, still and white, her hands crossed c i her heaving bosom, her eyes wide in trance-like horror. To her, the man reached his hands imploringly. "Loreto, you,— surely you understand?" The black eyes stared blankly into his, and from her ashen lips the words, slow and distinct, cold and cruel, cut him like a lash: "I pray God that I may never look upon your face again." With a low moan she sank to the floor, her face biuied in her hands. Mechanically, Carroll gave the necessary orders,— "Shoulder arms, forward, march!" and Don Jos€ Antonio Arillo, bareheaded, and sur- rounded by a ring of pointed bayonets, was led away from his weeping household. THE CLANK OP CHAINS cn^edtTa^e^- ^^ "*"' ^ «« angrily Prote^ mgnL tll/r^ ''°°"' °* WaspL's::Cert?rLfj-' ^" With Don Jesus Pico h^^ • ^ ^"^ governor, Garfias, Don Francisco Ri,t,^^V ***""=' F«»cisco Cota. ST w; ^bt^° '"<' worn, and many other., XentaS, "^ *"^ ev«j one dragging ti,e shamef^ ".»; ^"-^ AH night long the terror spread fnr =i '^ CHAPTER XI THE COURIERS OF THE NIGHT TTTHEN the answering shot of the sentry flashed » ^ through the darkness that fateful midnight, one of the rioters lurched against Palera, a cling- ing hand caught his sleeve, and a familiar voice gasped, "Sanguis! I am killed I" It was Ignado Reyes, shot through the breast, and while Servolo and Pablo, shocked by the tragic end of their frolic, bore him quickly to his home, the others, ignorant of the tragedy, had scampered away, pleased with the escapade. Surrounded by his sorrowing mother and sisters, within an hour the boy was dead. As Servolo, shaken by sobs, buried his tear-stained face in the drapery of the bed, the insistent thought, clear and agonizing, saddened his soul and burned in his brain— the thought that it had been his own consent to the wild venture that had sent his friend Ignado to his sudden fate. ^^ "Ignacio, Ignacio," he whispered piteously, "forgive me, forgive me! I could not know— I could not know." It was to Servolo the second tragedy on his heavy heart. Pressing his lips to the cold brow of his dead friend, he took leave of the weeping women and 113 THE COURIERS OP THE NIGHT ,,3 stepped into the stiU night. As he did «. t.„ figures emerged from the darkness of a nlhtil^ v«»da, and Hugo Vanueiaa^^:!„''rSrf "Is the boy badly hurt, seflor?" ^ He .s dead," answered Servolo, in a brealdng "Dead,— Jesus Maria! So-o^ " \r w,.M^;""*^^'"»'"^'